The NAACP Cries Racism

The NAACP's video recounting the "racism" of the tea party had plenty of objectionable signs suggesting Obama was a fascist and "It's 1939 Germany all over again." Someone needs to research the meaning of the word "racism." It gets better. The NAACP-endorsed video of purportedly racist signs even includes two shots of Confederate flags and "hateful" messages like "We Need a Christian President" and the sitcom catch phrase "What You Talking About, Willis?" A poster imposing Obama's face with a Mr. T Mohawk hairdo next to the words "Gimme Yo Change" may be odd, but it's not racist. It sure sounds like there weren't many racist signs at tea party rallies if that's all they could muster.

But "Bush Lied, Thousands Died" -- that's OK.

The bigger problem for the NAACP is that it has its very own racists. Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website revealed video of a NAACP banquet where U.S. Department of Agriculture appointee Shirley Sherrod talked about how she didn't want to help a white farmer because he should be helped by "his own kind." The contempt in her voice, in her face, and in the audience's laughter is unmistakable.

So where are all those news outlets that dutifully covered the NAACP's attacks on the tea party now? The network evening news and morning news shows avoided this racist video entirely on the first day.

Nevertheless, the cable news networks picked it up, and within hours, Sherrod had resigned from the Agriculture Department. Sherrod was clearly furious that her racist remarks were exposed. CNN analyst Roland Martin asserted that Sherrod had to go because with a political appointment, remarks like this ruin the perception that Sherrod would be fair in distributing government help. Sherrod screamed right back at him that he was "clearly from a different world" than the deeply racist world she lived in.

The bottom line is not only that Sherrod needed to go, but that the TV elite must stop ignoring this and stop pretending that black racism and discriminatory attitudes do not exist. If Obama's election was supposed to heal our race relations, then the media should put this controversy back on his desk and press him to address it.